The interest rate for new subsidized student loans doubled Monday, but area legislators remain optimistic that Congress will act to reverse the jump before loans are dispersed for the semester.

Interest rates on new need-based student loans now are 6.8 percent, up from 3.4 percent, after Congress failed to agree on a solution to halt the hike.

The doubled interest rate stems from the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, passed in 2007. The law dropped the interest rate for the need-based loan from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent during a four-year period, ending in 2011. Congress approved a one-year extension to keep the rate for the subsidized loan down in 2012, but it expired at the end of June.

In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed bill that would tie subsidized Stafford loan interest rates to the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, plus 2.5 percentage points, with a cap at 8.5 percent.

But Democratic senators proposed a bill stopping need-based student loan interest rate hikes for two years to give Congress time to overhaul how it handles student debt.

Legislators have promised to revisit the student-loan discussion this month. For a student who takes out the full subsidized loan amount — $23,000 — during his or her undergraduate career, the rate jump means paying an extra $4,600 in interest over 10 years, according to the finaid.org loan calculator.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said through a spokesman that he will continue to work with legislators to reach a solution.

“I am extremely disappointed that Congress would let interest rates double on more than 360,000 hard working undergraduate students across Ohio,” he said in an email.

U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Lakeville, said, “I voted for, and the House passed the Smarter Solutions for Students Act, which would keep student loan rates from doubling on July 1; unfortunately, our colleagues in the Senate did not.

“The House-passed legislation is a long-term fix that saves money and protects the most vulnerable students, while saving the federal government $3.7 billion over 10 years. Furthermore, the legislation switches interest rates to a market-based system, fostering a growing economy. It is unfortunate that this important initiative is being held back by partisan politics.”

And while local students may be thinking about the interest rates on their loans, the increase isn’t going to be something they feel immediately.

But they will see tuition increase. The board of trustees at Kent State University — which has a campus in New Philadelphia — have enacted a 1.5-percent tuition increase. They made the decision June 27.

The tuition increase will fund scholarships, grants and other financial aid for students across Kent State’s eight campuses, the board said.

According to the university, the tuition increase is the lowest enacted by Kent State in the last four years and is less than the state-mandated, 2-percent limit on undergraduate tuition for the 2013-14 academic year.

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Kent State’s continuing, robust enrollment, including a record number of commitments from incoming freshmen who will attend the flagship Kent Campus this fall, was a key factor in the decision to keep the increase under the state-mandated cap, according to university officials.